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Sony already has that planned. However, the battery unit at E3 was about half the size of the PSP itself, which is going to be hard enough to fit in normal sized pockets.

And, of course, no mention on how expensive this extra battery unit will cost, either (since they didn't talk a sylable about price for the unit, accessories, or the games at E3).

Besides, are you going to want extra wires hanging out of your pocket for a battery pack while you carry your PSP around on one of [sarcasm] these oh-so-cool looking [/sarcasm] Lanyards?

Sony already has that planned. However, the battery unit at E3 was about half the size of the PSP itself, which is going to be hard enough to fit in normal sized pockets.

And, of course, no mention on how expensive this extra battery unit will cost, either (since they didn't talk a sylable about price for the unit, accessories, or the games at E3).

Besides, are you going to want extra wires hanging out of your pocket for a battery pack while you carry your PSP around on one of [sarcasm] these oh-so-cool looking [/sarcasm] Lanyards?

My (current) personal favorite is Games Are Fun. I consider them to be the spirtual successors to the GIA. The _actual_ successor to the GIA, GameForms, has a decent amount of E3 stuff, but normally they're glacially slow on updates.

The Magic Box is also pretty good. They're sometimes a little slow to update, but they've got a fair bit of E3 stuff up now.

What other smaller and mostly independent game websites do people like to visit, both for E3 news and normal day to day happenings?

I don't think that's fair at all. While granted, GamePro is not exactly a bastion of gaming insight, they put out a decent product.

GamePro doesn't even take the time to perform basic proofreading. Not only is every issue filled with misspellings and grammatical errors, but in last month's issue, they actually claimed that Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes was, in big bold print, "A remake of the 1988 PS1 classic." This is the sort of effort that goes into their magazine.

While I will concede that their features are usually very interesting, including the letters section and the Watchdog articles, their reviews usually skip over any details or complaints and generally offer you little more than "It rocks" or "It sucks, so I'm giving it a 3.5 out of 5."

And I was only using the terms "professional" and "amateur" in terms of how a publication carries itself. In my opinion, sites like Games Are Fun act much more professionally than GameSpy or IGN ever will.

According to Big Blue Box it "may be ready by Summer 2004, it may not." Don't hold your breath.

Halo 2 (maybe soon?)

According to Bungie: "Fall 2004". My prediction: November 15 2004 at the earliest. Again, holding your breath for this one may not be a good idea.

This is a phase that everyone goes through. Either because of something in your life (often something subtle) or just a batch of mediocre games that temporarily sour your opinion of the entire medium, you stop playing games for awhile. I did the same thing when I was around 17. I stopped playing games for about a year or two straight and missed out on most of the interesting games that were released for the original PlayStation. But it wasn't a part of "growing up", "putting away childish things", or some other moronic platitude that non-gamers would give you. It's just a temporary change in the way you choose to entertain yourself.

This is something that we all do on a regular basis, but we don't really notice it until it strikes a medium that we actually care about. Personally, there was a time when I watched at least a couple of movies on DVD every week, burning through them at about the same rate as most regulars buyers/renters do. But now I haven't watched a movie on DVD in a good three months or so, but I haven't even noticed it. Why? Because I don't visit six or seven movie sites a day, but I do visit Insert Credit, GameSpot, Video Fenky, GAF, The Magic Box, Penny Arcade, and Slashdot Games just about every day. If you're actually posting on this site, then I'm guessing that you have a pretty similar set of sites that you visit.

I'm guessing that you'll pick up something really good in about a year or two and then you'll be addicted again just like the rest of us. But then again, if you really are of the mentality that "games are kids stuff", then maybe you'll deprive yourself of them forever. I really don't see how Metal Gear Solid or Knights of the Old Republic are any more childish than any of the TV shows or movies that I watch, but that's just me. Maybe that's why I really don't see myself abstaining from video games as I grow up any more than I see myself suddenly abstaining from television, movies, or music.

Actually, they need a whole new PC. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 isn't compatible with other PCs that run Windows XP Professional.

A detailed piece with the quote from Microsoft's FAQ on WinXP Media Center 2004 about compatibility, as well as price ranges on the PCs/laptops compatible.

DX:IW is in no way a bad game, but, it certainly isn't as good as its predecessor.

The first Deus Ex, in case you didn't know, had a lot more RPG elements in it, as well as being a FPS game. Experience points, skill building systems, etc., all made Deus Ex much more than a simple FPS game. If you ever played System Shock 2, Deus Ex was designed by the same people, and improved upon the greatness that was System Shock 2.

DX:IW got rid of the experience points, the skill system, the individual body part health, and actually got rid of of the more outdoor-type areas that permiated the original (which were great, even if they were smaller than they may have looked).

I still gave DX:IW an 8 out of 10. It's a very good game, overall. But, compared to the original, it just isn't quite the same sort of feeling as you go through it. The original Deus Ex is a 10 in my book, even on my shitty PC that barely runs it (more to do with the video card than anything else).

My revolutionary comment was a result of seeing too many articles like this. Articles that say the game is nifty and unique but gives nothing solid to be excited about. I love Final Fantasy. I want to be excited. But being excited about the fact that it's on two discs or the game is huge or that they expect people to say "Is this Final Fantasy?" when they play it? I'll pass.

Interesting historical influences of Rez in this review.

Wassily Kandinsky was a brilliant painter, but like many gifted painters, he was also insane; suffering from synaesthesia, a condition affecting the sense and resulting in cross interpolated stimuli, Kandinsky claimed to be able to hear colors and feel sound. It was this idea of interconnected sensory experiences that fueled the development of Rez, simulating synaesthesia though simultaneous sound, sight, and touch.

"With 780,000 network adapters sold, and an installed base of around 50+ million, we see that the PS2 network adapter's market penetration among PS2 owners is only at around 1.5%, or less. With 500,000 Xbox Live subscribers, and a user base of around 9 million Xboxes, we can see that the market penetration of Xbox Live among Xbox owners is only at around 5.5%, or less. And without adequate figures for Nintendo's adapters, we can only speculate on the market penetration, but it is well under 10% of GameCube owners, possibly even lower than Sony's 1.5% penetration." Thursdae

That would be sweet-ass, though, if they did put that in there too.

The trailer for Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes looks awesome! (Spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the original Metal Gear Solid)

You mean mainstream hits like Kakuto Chojin (fighting, flopped, got recalled), Fusion Frenzy (party, flopped), Blinx the Time Sweeper (platformer, flopped), and Sneakers (action platformer, flopped), or Microsoft's first party sports titles, which sell and play like crap?

Compare it with the 'niche' titles from Nintendo like Luigi's Mansion (over 1 million sold worldwide), Super Smash Bros. Melee (well over 1 million sold worldwide), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (over 1 million sold worldwide, hell over 1 million sold in North America alone), Super Mario Sunshine (over 1 million sold worldwide), Metroid Prime (well over half a million, if not over 1 million sold worldwide), and this doesn't include the GBA first party titles, like Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire which have sold over 3 million combined in Japan alone, plus whatever outrageous number in the North America, or the Zelda and Super Mario Advance games which sell absurdly.

Last I checked, million plus selling games weren't 'niche', on any console. The only 2 Nintendo first party game, released worldwide by Nintendo on the GameCube, that can be called niche because of their genre/type are Pikmin, and Animal Crossing (the latter not yet released in Europe, but has also sold over 1 million units between North America and Japan).

No Gaps in the game lineup. Microsoft made sure that ASAP after the consoles launch or at launch that it had a game for every genre. Nintendo doesn't do this. The Gamecube still lacks a good first person shooter or exclusive sports games, both genres that sell huge numbers.

I can agree that there're gaps, especially in releases of Nintendo first party games. And that the GC doesn't have an exclusive FPS (I don't consider Metroid Prime a FPS with it's definite Action/Adventure elements), but TimeSplitters 2, and some others are on it. As for sports, Nintendo doesn't have a great sports lineup, especially of exclusives. But, most Nintendo fans don't buy sports games for their Nintendo consoles.

The difference being Microsoft's first party and exclusive third party games seem to be lacking (Halo and KotOR not included), both in overall appeal and quality.

Ready to expand to fill weaknesses. Microsoft is ready to buy up anyone that can do what they can't. They bought game maker Rare to make Nintendo type games. Nintendo had the chance to buy this well established developer, but didn't.

Hrm, let's see. The most eagerly awaited Rare game, Perfect Dark Zero, has been given a release date of 2006., and may not appear on this Xbox. The game they were working on for the past three years, Kameo: Elements of Power is supposedly coming out this December--but expect it to slip. StarFox Adventures was an overall disappointment to most who played it (but it sure looked pretty). And the first game they're releasing on the Xbox is a game that was considered the laughinstock of their showing at E3, Grabbed by the Ghoulies.

Add in that many of the GoldenEye 007 team left to form Free Radical (Timesplitters 1&2), and a bunch of others, including many who worked on Perfect Dark left to form another studio (now working on an exclusive GC game); and it doesn't look like Nintnedo lost out by not buying Rare.

Ultimate goal's are totally different. Nintendo's ultimate goal is to be what they were. They want to sell video games.

Perish the thought! A video game maker wanting to sell video games? PREPOSTEROUS!!!!

Microsoft on the other hand wants to make sure its monopoly extends from the PC to the TV.

You mean convicted illegal monopolies don't do things out of

You've got to be kidding. The GameBoy Advance is the hottest selling machine in the world. The SP is outselling even the PS2 right now.

Look at GAF.

There is NOT a more money in the home console market. Production costs for GameBoy Advance titles are incredibly low, and sales ratios are very high. On average, you make more money on an average selling GameBoy game than a high-selling console game. Why else would any Joe-Schmo be able to develop his own GameBoy games? I must know at least 3 independent GameBoy development companies.

Even if the Gamecube sells a third as many units as the PS2 has, the GameBoy Advance will still sell more units than the PS2 has. Until the PSP arrives, we don't know how things will turn out. However, anyone that doesn't think that Nintendo's working on a portable that will be as equally powerful as the the Sony device, is definately a fool.

Some of you guys are such douches. Where do you come up with this stuff?

There is also going to be the ability to buy a headset separately, and use a Xbox Live enabled game to get a 2 month trial of XBL as well.

Full story.

Thursdae

Indeed

Sony and Microsoft *killed them*? Are you nuts? XBox's only major seller has been Halo. The DOA games likely come in second place along with sports titles. Live! kits are selling, but little else is.

If you don't believe me, read this article at GAF. I could list numerous others as well with *real* numbers and not some hearsay from trolls.

I'm not trying to diss Microsoft or anything, but these rumors of Nintendo getting slaughtered are getting rediculous. Nintendo is still up on worldwide console sales by 2 million units over the XBox. And while Microsoft may *barely* be pushing second place in system sales in the USA, they're hurting elsewhere, especially Japan. Game to system ratios are terrible, even at that. What good does it do to sell consoles if the games aren't selling?

Nintendo already has its fanbase and it's consistently pulling profits year after year. What's the problem here? Do you really think that they need to be number one in console sales to be successful? The GBA is still outselling the PS2, and though it's not a fair comparision, it's still profiatable. Gamecube has a pretty good library of excellent games, and though the quantity isn't as large as the older PS2's library, the games sell well and the fans seem to like them.

Nintendo *IS* listening to their fans. They're giving us the games we want. They want new games based on the old franchises. Metroid was on hiatus for years, but Prime is a fabulous game. People want Zelda. Many of us were wowed by Eternal Darkness. Metal Gear: Twin Snakes looks like it's going to be a groundbreaking remake. F-Zero is already pulling in great scores by Famitsu and other mags. Your comments are like saying that gamers don't want "Final Fantasy 52" or some other popular franchise. Speaking of which, there's no doubt that a lot of Square fans will pick up a Gamecube for Crystal Chronicles. The titles that you think have been "milked" are Nintendo's exclusives. They are what makes a Nintendo system.

So what's the problem here? Are they "failing" because they haven't released more network-based titles for you? Can you give any really good reasons why they aren't listening to you?

Much like avoiding Microsoft's "Shared Source" contamination, this helps me avoid contamination from other people's reviews entering mine, even if unwillingly.

Thursdæ

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

And having played fighting games since the original Fighting Street (Street Fighter I), as well as older side scrolling games such as Final Fight and Double Dragon (all in the arcades) I can be fairly sure of myself when I say that the DoA series is a mediocre fighter, at best. It is easy to jump in and play, yes, but the engine itself is mediocre in everything but the graphics department.

Remember, the orignial DoA wasn't marketed as 'the best fighter' around...it was marketed (and the series still is marketed) as 'the best LOOKING fighter'.

We play it on its merits as a fighting game alone.

Obviously our standards differ. The DoA series has very little merit to myself as a fighter. I'd much rather play Soul Edge/Blade/Calibur and Virtua Fighter, and even games like Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK over the DoA games.

And if you would read reviews (IGN) once in a while, DOA EXB actually had a pretty deep volleyball system and surpassed expectations of just being an oggle-fest.

First of all, I WRITE reviews. I think I know what I am talking about. Second of all, IGN just sucks. The amount of rampant fanboi-ism that goes on on each of their console specific parts is nausea inducing. When we add in how often they hype a game, or rag on a game, only to give a review that completely contradicts what they were saying before, and my ability to trust them falls to about as far as I can throw them. Buildings are heavy, so I can't throw them far.

And I'd hardly call a volleyball system where the computer moves your character into place to set/spike the ball for you a 'deep volleyball game'. The 'game' was a tech demo of the DoA 4 engine, with a few things thrown on top to make it appear to be worth spending money on it. The casino aspect ended up being the most fun part of the game.

Your arguments are classic anti-xbox fanboy rants.

Funny, I thought I was saying that Team Ninja focuses more on graphics than gameplay. Hardly anything to do with the Xbox, since even on the Saturn, PSOne, Dreamcast and PS2 Team Ninja has always been the same. In fact, the only mention of the Xbox in the post was to say how horrid the fighting games released exclusively on it have been.

Unless, of course, you think Kabuki Warriors, Tao Feng: Fist of the Lotus, and Kakuto Chojin are excellent fighters in their own right. They aren't, and I think even the Holy Grail of Review Sites (IGN according to too many, never will understand why people actually pay for their drivel) agrees with me on these games.

Between those fighters, even I'd choose DoA 3 on the basis of its merits as a fighting game.

Jeez' fanboys are like maggots crawling out of the woodwork all over the place.

As is obvious by your defending of the DoA series and Team Ninja. You realize that by rabidly defending the series, you are painting yourself into that fanboi picture. The "You hate the series I love so you must be a fanboi and I can't be" place you seem to be in is meerly just the denial of fanboi-ism.

But, that's ok. I happen to think Team Ninja sucks at making games, but does great at making gorgeous graphics. You actually like their games. Fine. To each his own.

But when you start spouting off like some rabid lunatic for me to read reviews from IGN about the games just to make me see your point

But, it's the only title MS can be pretty much assured their making money on right now. And with the Xbox Division losing $190 million in calendar Q1 2003 alone, well, you can expect Halo to stay full price until Halo 2 comes out.

Thursdæ

I wrote it, so it's nice to see people reading it. And you let me see a spelling mistake I hadn't noticed before, which is now fixed.

However, you're a bit off on the layoff situation. The Xbox division only had 200 employees, and only a little over 30 of them got laid off.

But the Xbox is a complete failure in Japan, with only 385k sold in over a year on the market. And Peter Moore's thoughts on helping the Xbox in Japan certainly isn't going to help it much there (another article I wrote). Well, at least not the bringing of Western-style games to Japan, anyway.

Thursdæ
Newsie for GAF

I wrote it, so it's nice to see people reading it. And you let me see a spelling mistake I hadn't noticed before, which is now fixed.

However, you're a bit off on the layoff situation. The Xbox division only had 200 employees, and only a little over 30 of them got laid off.

But the Xbox is a complete failure in Japan, with only 385k sold in over a year on the market. And Peter Moore's thoughts on helping the Xbox in Japan certainly isn't going to help it much there (another article I wrote). Well, at least not the bringing of Western-style games to Japan, anyway.

Thursdæ
Newsie for GAF

Screenshots of the new GBA Metroid.

Namco withdrew it's merger offer, which leaves Sega out in the cold with no current offers. There's always the rumors about EA or Microsoft buying them out though, which would be a real disaster in my opinion. Namco or Sammy would have been good, but failing that, maybe Nintendo will decide to play white knight since i'd far prefer them to EA or Microsoft.

a few other good sites include: games.ars, gamegirl advance, games.design.art.culture, got game?, how they got game, ludology, or for regular gaming news, the friendlier ones are bluesnews, gamespy, games are fun and shacknews. where do you go?

If Sony actually delays till 2006 and Nintendo actually does make it out by 2005 (when piling hardware release predictions on top of rumors about hardware release predictions, nothing is certain) then it might give Nintendo the chance to gain the same lead Sony has gained in the last two generations. Along with the dinky mini-DVDs and the lack of a second "Z" button on the controllers, their constant lateness has been one of my biggest criticisms about Nintendo.